Ideas / Issues / Problems / Fixes / Updates: Server Maint.
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Server Maint.

Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: Site Support
Forum Name: Ideas / Issues / Problems / Fixes / Updates
Forum Discription: Find something broken, Have an Idea, Find something new!
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13104
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 1:43pm


Topic: Server Maint.
Posted By: James
Subject: Server Maint.
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 2:46pm
This weekend the server is getting an upgrade. The site is not!

The dedicated server we run PP on is roughly 9 years old. The box is an old windows 2003 web server running old software versions on an old machine, were almost out of memory and things have gone too long and being slow.

So this weekend and next week we will be migrating to a new 12 core machine with loads of hop, pop and get up. Everything will be much faster and our gauge services are getting a much needed update too, with better virtual gauges, and DOE, and Other Water Authorities being added.

Expect down time, lag and problems as we migrate everything over to this new machine. The website once migrated will not look any different, it should just be quicker and solve alot of timeout issues we have been having due to DOS Attacks against the versions of outdated software we have that are just not supported any longer. Cost of doing an UnBusiness if you will.

More Updates to Follow.



Replies:
Posted By: up4air
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 3:24pm
Good luck with that! No envy from me.

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More water, please.


Posted By: irenen
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 3:33pm
Thanks again for creating and maintaining this awesome site Jimmy-Jo-Bob, we are really fortunate to have it. 

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It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.


Posted By: irenen
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 3:34pm
I totally did not write Jimmy-Jo-Bob, LOL.

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It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.


Posted By: Scott_H
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 4:14pm
Thanks Jimmy-Jo-Bob - you have always been super reluctant in the past to accept donations for site upkeep - if not absolutely refusing any financial help.
 
I know you are probably still living off the massive dollars you reaped in from earlier ad revenue, , but seriously - take some of my beer money.  The site is worth it to me.  If you are hesitant to be seen reaping profit, throw out the exact cost for a year and launch a little kickstarter campaign.
 
 


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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.”


Posted By: James
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 5:06pm
Scott,

To be 100% honest in the very near future once I get some Tech issues hammered out, I plan on trying to get this whole site, ownership, domain name, IP all that crap, moved into a new NonProfit Corp, that is officially the property of whitewater paddlers in our area. IE we will have a board of directors, I will sign over all rights and let it roll with the next generation of paddlers. We have started that direction by adding new moderators and admins then me stepping out of that role but it is time for the next and final step.

Ultimately I would like to always be involved in the health and direction of this resource but it was never created for personal reward, rather community benefit and to really ensure that continues it is time for the community to step in and decide how much they want it. I got kids and my time is so much different than it used to be that I want to let other people excited about this sport to have the chance to get involved with the site.

Again nothing going to change in the immediate future but once I get the tech side solid again don't be surprised if we have a new discussion about this stuff.

Oh and Scott, thanks for the offer, for now I am actually moving this puppy onto a new server shared with business stuff I do for a living to reduce costs etc... so again, thanks for all the generous offers but were good for now.

Funny side note, no one but Me ever knew this but.... Charles from AquaSports multiple times offered to pay for 100% of the costs, with Zero Recognition, in fact he wanted to be a silent supporter to just keep the resource open. The only reason I never accepted his or others contributions is because my business stuff and this have kind of co mingled in terms of using servers/bandwidth etc.. and I never wanted to have to figure out the exact dollar amount of ProfessorPaddle to ensure I was not taking more than I should for the costs.

Ok yada yada, long story short, thanks well be back up in fast soon.


Posted By: mokelumnekid
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 6:10pm
You have done an *amazing* job with this site. You could fill a black hole with all the good karma this work has generated. Seriously tho, a big, big thank you. In life it is the people and their passions that are the secret sauce. You got it in spades.


Posted By: phil
Date Posted: 09 May 2013 at 7:00pm
It is so fast now, that is rad. Thanks!


Posted By: Kiran
Date Posted: 11 May 2013 at 9:00pm
This is an amazing resource!

Thanks for keeping this going!

Would love to contribute to that new non-profit


Posted By: James
Date Posted: 11 May 2013 at 10:54pm
Gauges will be down until this process finishes, I will do a few manual updates tomorrow and Monday until the migration is complete.


Posted By: James
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 2:38pm
Just an update to let everyone know I am pisssed and dissappointed.

Anyone ever migrated data and applications from
Windows Server 2000 (32 bit) & SQL2000
To
Windows 2008R2 (64 bit) & SQL2000, scratch that 2008...

Nothing is reverse compatible, gotta buy all new crap and install it then migrate data between versions... DUDE WHAT BS. Teaches me to run a machine without new upgrades for over 10 years.

After this process I have come to the belief that it is going to be almost impossible for future non-profits (that don't have revenue streams) to maintain robust online services. I mean unless they go to Linux, and MySQL which believe me is where we would be if I did not have personal business that funded the costs of this machine.

Ok enough venting, back to work.


Posted By: phil
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 3:23pm
Eh, it's a huge pain in the ass to upgrade a linux box you haven't updated in 10 yrs, too. You do get the benefit that you don't have to buy anything to try stuff out though :)


Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 8:39am
Sorry to hear your troubles, bro.

That deserves a mention on the lame list.




Posted By: James
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 10:53am
Yea lame, but really is more of an issue of learning new crap I don't want to learn. IE new OS, new DB, New IIS, etc...

But anyways, be warned new media (ie photos and video) will likely be lost in the transition if uploaded from this point on until we are over to the new server. Problem is that we have a 50 gig drive on the old machine and 38 gigs of media, so I have to take it in chunks. It would be nice to just zip up the whole directory and transfer but it is just too much for this old server and space. Transfering file by file would take a decade so I have to zip up chunks of 5-10gigs at a time. Oh and Harms way to go dude, so far you take the cake for disk space with a total of 4.9gigs of uploaded photos and video.


Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 2:40pm
Jimmy-Jo-Bob, I am gonna be upset if Dave's pictures of his mini cooper and random house projects get lost during this transition.  Especially the blurry pictures that were never rotated upright.

btw where is Dave?  god knows he has his opinions... must just be keeping them to himself


Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 3:01pm
Jimmy-Jo-Bob


Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 3:01pm
HAHA I DIG IT MISTER Jimmy-Jo-Bob


Posted By: mokelumnekid
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 8:10pm
RE: Lame List, Interesting, I always thought "Almost Live" was maybe the lamest thing ever. (SNARK ALERT) John Keister is the living example of desperate local high school talent show jokes lame and Nancy Guppy don't even get me started on the topic of small town talent...reminds us that the PNW still has openings for real talent- can your chihuahua balance a tea cup on its head? Sign that dog up!


Posted By: James
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 9:30am
So believe it or not, I basically gave up for a week on learning all this new stuff in Server 2008. But after a little hiatus I am back at it. If you are viewing the website and in the URL bar you see beta.professorpaddle.com that is because the DNS has not propagated out to your host yet. Some people and places have already got the new IP set but some are slower. Don't fear the old server is redirecting all traffic to beta.professorpaddle.com so we don't loose any posts, or uploads during the Propagation of the new DNS. So in other words we are basically committed to the transition but kind of hanging in limbo until the rest of the world gets the word. Kinda like being stuck in a wrestling match with you NUTS in a other guys hands.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6h6paxOPJ1r3dw5so1_500.jpg">

That really has no merit but I wanted to post that photo....

For all purposes the new server is up and running. Just a quick little heads up on what you can expect moving forward.

Until DNS is finished around the world there might be errors here and there with the site looking up old files or hidden connections against the old server. I have tried to change all the names in all the files but I might have missed some.

Once that process is done I will start working on getting the errors cleaned up.

Gauges, we have a fresh and slick new gauge system it will not go live until the DNS is finished though. So in the meantime continue watching the dates to ensure you are not looking at old updates.


Posted By: irenen
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 3:28pm
Once again, thanks for all the time and effort you put into this site, Jiminy Creek-it.

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It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.


Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 3:48pm
thanks Jiminy Creek-it


Posted By: up4air
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2013 at 5:56pm
Seems I'm getting logged out every few minutes. I used to be logged in for weeks.

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More water, please.



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